The mustard farming has been rising in the Sylhet division as many of the farmers are showing their interest in the crop due to the scope of extra earning through the honey collection.
This year, the crop has been cultivated on 11,432 hectares of land in the four districts of the division. It was 9,300 hectares of land in the division last year, official sources said.
A report prepared by the DAE's divisional office showed on average 1.2 metric tonnes of mustard per hectare are expected to be produced this year in the agriculture region.
Per hectare yield would be better this season although it was a little behind in the last two years after the farmers had suffered due to late preparation of their lands for the crop, an official said.
We have established demonstration plots of high-yielding varieties in different areas to woo the common and new farmers in the crop since huge tracts of land remain uncultivated in greater Sylhet during the winter, said the additional Director of the DAE's divisional office Dilip Kumar Adhikari.
In Sylhet district, the farmers cultivated mustard on 3550 hectares of land this year, which is higher by 680 hectares than the achieved cultivated land area of 2870 hectares of land last year.
In Moulvibazar, the farmers cultivated the crop on 2232 hecatres of land in the district, which is higher by 886 hectares than the achieved cultivated land area of 1346 hectares last year.
In Habiganj, the farmers cultivated mustard on 3500 hecatres, higher than 490 hectares than the previous year which was 3010 hectares of land.
In Sunamganj district, the farmers cultivated mustard on 2150 hectares of land this year, which is higher by 523 hectares than the achieved cultivated land area of 1627 hectares of land last year.
The DAE had earlier targeted larger areas of land to bring under the crop's farming this season in the division.
Meanwhile, a good number of apiculturists were now engaged in collecting honey from the bee boxes, kept in the mustard fields in Habiganj, Sylhet, and Moulvibazar, the official said.
The DAE also distributed some boxes for honey collection on the croplands, the official said adding, so far already 300 boxes were set on the fields.
